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May 8, 2003
Rome TMS Third Round
By ASAP Sports
R. FEDERER/T. Robredo
6-1, 6-1
An interview with: ROGER FEDERER
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. That was a bit special, wasn't it?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, who expected this, you know, to
beat Tommy Robredo 1-1 on clay? Yeah, I'm very, very pleased. Match
went well from the start, you know. I felt good on the returns, tried
to keep the rallies short on my own service games. It worked perfectly
so I didn't have to change anything. I had the perfect game plan and
I'm very happy.
Q. With such a game, do you think you can win this tournament?
ROGER FEDERER: I don't know. It's very difficult to answer. I
think -- I don't know, it's just my feeling. Everybody who is in the
quarters or semifinals of a tournament can win the event, you know?
Guys have more chance, guys have less chance. But I think I definitely
have a chance because I'm playing really well. But it's not what I'm
thinking right now. I go match by match. The next match I know I'm the
favorite so I hope I can use this situation for myself.
Q. That's now, I think, 34 wins this year. Are you just on a complete roll of confidence?
ROGER FEDERER: I don't know. I don't think I'm on such a
confidence roll, actually, you know. Because I come into all these
matches and I know -- I'm not scared, but I feel that I could lose any
match, you know, also in one way. But since Miami, I haven't lost a set
in Davis Cup, Munich and here now. I'm surprising myself every time I
win so easy. Really strange, you know, to me. But I wouldn't put it
this way that I'm on a confidence roll. I feel like I'm mentally really
good right now and my game is just playing well. I feel like, you know,
before, a couple years back, I would always feel like I would shank
every ball. In the wind I would be struggling too much. But now all
these things don't bother me anymore. I just keep playing well, you
know. It's really nice feeling to have.
Q. Is there a particular shot you personally would like to improve on?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I would like to have, you know, dropshot,
this forehand dropshot all these Spaniards have. When they have this
time, they just wait and wait and wait, in the end they play a
dropshot. I could do it but I just don't have the confidence or I feel
like, "Oh, if I lose the point, I look so stupid." So I don't even try
these shots, you know. But sometimes it's good to do it just to mix it
up.
Q. Roger, have you and Peter figured out why you're doing such a good job on clay so quickly?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, you never know why you're playing
well so quickly, you know, on clay. I think the beginning of a clay
court season is always a little bit written in the stars, you know, how
you say in German. I guess, you know, especially for a guy like me who
prefers maybe the hard courts or the faster surfaces, even though I
don't feel this way anymore today, in the beginning in my career I felt
different, you know, towards clay. But I'm in a way surprising myself,
but in one way I know I can play well because I played all my life on
clay. I feel very natural, my footwork is very natural on clay, and
this is why actually I'm not that surprised, you know. But still, to
have beaten such good players, you know, in such little time is a very
good result for me and I'm very happy.
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